Oral Answers to Questions

Marie Rimmer Excerpts

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)]

1. What recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the number of children being remanded to custody.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Alex Chalk)]

Custody is reserved for those convicted or accused of the most grave offences, and the total number of children in detention has fallen by 82% since 2010. Before a child can be remanded, the court must be satisfied that it is very likely that the defendant will receive a custodial sentence, and must have explicitly considered and rejected the option of remanding him or her into local authority care.

[Ms Rimmer]

Some 44% of places in youth custody are taken up by children and young people on remand who do not go on to receive a custodial sentence. Yet children held in young offenders institutions spend most of their time locked up in their cells, amid high levels of violence. Does the Minister think that that is the best place to spend time during adolescence?

[Alex Chalk]

The hon. Lady makes an important and compassionate point. It is absolutely right that we should invest in the estate, and I am pleased that we are investing in a new secure school, which will open soon. She makes an important point about the decision to remand. Those decisions are made by independent judges—that is correct—but I hope that she will join me in recognising that the reduction in the overall number of children in custody by 82% since 2010 is a positive thing. When I was prosecuting, young people were going inside for being passengers in vehicles taken without consent. Now, they are inside only for the most grave offences.